The Stormborn
by lilgulie5
Summary: A Jonerys Future Fic Oneshot! Daenerys has gone to Dragonstone to await the birth of her third child, but a strong Summer storm makes for a sleepless night for her oldest son, Aemon. Just a cute bit of family fluff. Same timeline and characters as Stallion of Stone.


**A/N: This is another future fic oneshot from the same timeline as Stallion of Stone. I enjoyed writing about Jon and Dany's future children that I just had to write a little bit more. Please read and review! Thanks! -Katie**

"Will that be the last one for tonight, your Grace?" Missandei asked as Daenerys set down her quill.

"Yes, I think that's enough for one evening," Dany replied, sitting back in her chair and running her hands over her belly. "I know you think I'm working too late as it is. We're finished for the night."

"I would never presume to tell you how late you should work, your Grace."

"As my advisor you wouldn't. As my friend you most certainly would. That's why I value you."

The two women shared a warm smile. They had been through much together; grief, heartache, sorrow, happiness, and joy.

"Will you need my assistance tonight?"

"No, I think I'll stay here and read for a bit," Dany said as lightning flashed across the Gullet. "It looks like a storm's coming. I can smell it in the air."

"Don't stay up too late, Daenerys."

"Now you sound like me when I'm scolding Aemon."

"Well, he does get his stubbornness from his mother."

"I promise I will sleep. That is, as long as this one will let me," Dany said, pointing to her stomach. "I think their foot is currently wedged beneath my ribs. At least it feels that way."

"I'll have them send in some tea before I retire tonight. The kind that helps you relax."

"Thank you, Missandei. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

After her friend and most trusted advisor left, Daenerys stood from her writing table and stretched out her sore back. Just because she had come to Dragonstone for her eventual confinement did not mean she left her duties behind her in KIng's Landing. Every day new missives, inquiries, and petitions arrived and every evening after she put Rhaenys and Aemon to bed she would go over everything with Missandei's help. In less than a week Jon would be joining her from his trip to the Iron Islands. Then, barring anything urgent, their family would remain there for the next month until the babe was born.

She hated when they were apart, but short and long absences alike were part of ruling a vast kingdom that was still rebuilding from years of war and neglect. She was glad to have someone to share the heavy burden of the crown. In many ways she had been naive, despite Tyrion's warning. Not everyone had welcomed the restoration of her dynasty, not everything was able to be solved with Valyrian steel and dragonfire. Four years after their coronation she was still learning that.

Dany stood at the open balcony in the Chamber of the Painted Table, the Map Room, as Aemon and Rhaenys called it, and closed her eyes as the warm salt air blew across her face. Far below her, fierce waves were pummelling the socks, warning of the storm brewing across the open water. Lightning flashed again, so bright she could see its light through her closed lids and she counted the seconds that passed until the low rumble of thunder echoed across the bay. _It's going to be a big one tonight,_ she thought with a smile. In just ten days she would celebrate her namesday, so a summer storm seemed more than appropriate.

 _Summer_ , Dany mused. Another reason she was glad to be on Dragonstone. The heat of King's Landing was different from the warmth of Essos. There, it was hot. In King's Landing it was sweltering, nearly oppressive at times and the large city seemed to stink with the heat. Dragonstone provided an escape from that as well. Here the breezes blew into the castle from the water in a way that did not happen in King's Landing. Here was the perfect place to welcome her summer child into the world.

Soon enough the rain began to fall and Dany retreated further into the Map Room, running her fingers across the great carved and painted map of her ancestor, Aegon Targaryen, on her way to the bookshelf. She selected a tome before settling back into her chair. The book was a familiar one, given to her as a wedding present by Ser Jorah. In all the years that had passed, she still never tired of the stories within. No sooner had she opened the book than a servant begged entrance to the chamber, carrying the tea Missandei had promised to request for her. She thanked them, took a sip of the steaming drink and returned to her reading, finally deciding on the early days of House Targaryen when Jaehaerys the Conciliator became king after the reign of Maegor the Cruel, and ruled with his wife, the good Queen Alyssane.

Dany propped her elbow on the table and cradled her head in her hand as she read. Before long her eyelids began to grow heavy, only to snap open again with each crack of thunder. Her head had dipped down again when she heard the faint sound of steel scraping across the stone floor.

"Mama?" a small voice said just before a clap of thunder so loud it shook the cup on her table echoed through the Map Room and jolted her awake. She blinked a few times to find her son standing before her, a small sword in his hand and a scared expression on his face.

"Aemon? What are you doing?" she asked, holding her hand out to beckon him towards her.

"The storm woke me up and...and…" His bottom lip quivered as he walked towards his mother and Dany could tell he was quite possibly on the verge of tears. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

"And you were afraid?"

"No!" Aemon said quickly. "I'm not afraid! I came to protect _you_."

"Ahhhhh," Dany replied with a knowing smile. "That was very good of you. It's very late, Aem."

"I know, but after I woke up I could sleep anymore."

"And your sister didn't wake up?"

"Rhae can sleep through anything."

 _Her father's daughter_ , Dany thought with a wry smile.

"I was just about to retire for the night. Would you escort me to my chambers?"

"Yes, Mama!" Aemon said excitedly but Dany noticed him jump when the next flash of lightning lit up the room.

Daenerys took one last sip of her tea and shifted herself out of her chair. Her body felt heavy with fatigue and she could not wait to sink into her soft bed and let sleep wash over her. First, however, there was a little prince too proud to say he was afraid of the thunder who needed his mother. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it three times and waited for his little hand to squeeze back four times. It was a little code between the two of them, a secret message. Three squeezes meant _I love you_. Four squeezes in return meant _I love you, too_.

"Lead the way, Aemon," Dany said and her son led her from the Map Room to her bedchamber.

"You have a visitor tonight, your Grace?" Ser Barristan asked from his post at the door to Daenerys's chamber.

"Indeed," his queen replied. "It appears I have an extra Queensguard tonight."

Aemon walked into his mother's bedchamber and laid his sword against a chair. He climbed up onto the tall bed and watched Dany expectantly.

"Stay right there and I'll be back," she instructed, moving behind the changing screen in the far corner of her room to shrug out of her gown and into a deep greyish blue nightgown.

The bedroom was dark, save for a few sputtering candles and the occasional flash of lightning. Aemon looked so small in the middle of the huge bed and when she climbed on he immediately settled himself beside her resting his head on her chest and a hand on her belly. She wrapped an arm around him and brought him in close.

"That's much better," she said, nuzzling his soft, silver-blonde hair. It was long now and messy about his face. He typically wore it half-up. _Like Father wears it,_ he often said with pride. Now it was loose and wild from sleep.

"Better," he echoed his mother and glanced up at her. "Story?"

Daenerys nodded and hummed for a moment before she began her tale.

"Do you know why they call me _Stormborn_?" she asked.

"Because you were born during one of the worst storms."

"That's right. You were born during a terrible storm as well."

"I was?"

"Yes, but you were born during a great Winter storm. One of the worst, even the Northerners agree. I was staying at Winterfell and your father was at Castle Black preparing to seek out the Night King and defeat him. That's a very long way from Winterfell, but he promised me that he would be there when you were born."

"Did he keep his promise?" Aemon asked, already knowing the answer for he had heard the story before, but it was one of his favorites.

"He did. He must have known it was close to the time for you to be born. Now, how he and Rhegal made it through the storm I will _never_ know, but he was there at Winterfell when you were placed into my arms, all red faced and screaming and wailing. That very night, the storm died down and from that night on there has never been such a storm like that anywhere in Westeros. Some say that the night you were born was the beginning of the end of the Long Night."

Aemon was quietly for a very long time and Dany thought he had fallen asleep, knowing that he was finally safe from the storm within his mother's embrace.

"Mama?" his little voice asked in the dimly lit room.

"Yes, Aem?"

"I told a lie."

"You did?"

Aemon nodded against her breast and heaved a sigh. "I was afraid of the storm."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"Because if I want to be brave, I can't be afraid."

"Oh my love," Dany said, shifting her son so that he was sitting up and facing her. "People aren't brave because they're not afraid. People are brave because they carry on despite their fear. I was told that your grandfather Ned used to say that the only time a man can be brave is when he's afraid."

"Really?"

"Yes. Are you still afraid now?"

"No. Because you're here, Mama."

"No, Aemon. You're not unafraid just because I'm here. You're unafraid because we're here together."

"Do I have to go back to my bed now?"

"Not tonight, Aemon," Dany said, hugging him and holding his close again. "Stay right here with me."


End file.
